‘It’s Been Hard On The Body’

Scott Carson has admitted that life in the Derby County camp during pre-season has been hard on the body.

Derby are back in the UK and continuing their preparations for the upcoming 2017/18 Sky Bet Championship campaign, following a week-long training camp in Tenerife.

Carson, at 31, is one of the more experienced players in the Rams’ squad and knows exactly what this time of the year is about.

While the outfield players have to go through various running exercises, Carson and the rest of Derby’s goalkeepers are undertaking some gruelling sessions of their own.

The former England international shot-stopper doesn’t mind the hard work, and he knows the benefit of putting in the hours on the training ground in the lead-up to the big kick-off.

He told RamsTV: “For a goalkeeper, pre-season is still hard work.

“We obviously don’t run around for the amount of time that the outfield players do but we’re doing longer sets, we’re up and down all the time and it is pretty hard on your body.

“It has been tough, but at the same time, it’s been good and we’ve had a lot out of it. It’s like anything really, the more you put into it, the more you get out of it and it’s just about trying to do your best every single day.

“I’m feeling in really good nick. I came back in good shape and I’ve did quite a bit over the summer.”

Derby’s games programme kicked off this week with a trip to National League - North side Kidderminster Harriers.

That game will then be backed up with a visit to National League outfit Macclesfield Town on Saturday.

Carson felt that a full week of training abroad was the perfect lead-up to returning to match situations.

With the new season fast approaching, the shot-stopper is eyeing a more consistent year from a team perspective if the Rams are to find themselves at the top end of the division.

He said: “I have been a fan of not having the games during a training camp abroad because sometimes you go away and you miss the sessions because you’re travelling here, there and everywhere to a match.

“It was good just to concentrate on training for a week, but it will be nice this week to get a couple of games in. I’ll just be happy when the season starts.

“It will be like any other season I have been here; we want to try and get the club back into the Premier League.

“It hasn’t happened the last couple of years but hopefully we can have a lot more of a consistent season then we have done in the last two years so that this can be our year.

“Everyone is all aiming in that direction and everyone is working towards the same goal.”